A Life That Pleases God

1 Thessalonians 4 Finally, my dear friends, since you belong to the Lord Jesus, we beg and urge you to live as we taught you. Then you will please God. You are already living that way, but try even harder. ²Remember the instructions we gave you as followers of the Lord Jesus. ³God wants you to be holy, so don't be immoral in matters of sex. ⁴Respect and honor your wife. ⁵Don't be a slave of your desires or live like people who don't know God. ⁶You must not cheat any of the Lord's followers in matters of sex. Remember, we warned you that he punishes everyone who does such things. ⁷God didn't choose you to be filthy, but to be pure. ⁸So if you don't obey these rules, you are not really disobeying us. You are disobeying God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
⁹We don't have to write you about the need to love each other. God has taught you to do this, ¹⁰and you already have shown your love for all of his people in Macedonia. But, my dear friends, we ask you to do even more. ¹¹Try your best to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work hard, just as we taught you to do. ¹²Then you will be respected by people who are not followers of the Lord, and you won't have to depend on anyone.

The Lord's Coming

¹³My friends, we want you to understand how it will be for those followers who have already died. Then you won't grieve over them and be like people who don't have any hope. ¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and was raised to life. We also believe that when God brings Jesus back again, he will bring with him all who had faith in Jesus before they died. ¹⁵Our Lord Jesus told us that when he comes, we won't go up to meet him ahead of his followers who have already died.
¹⁶With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God's trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. ¹⁷Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸Encourage each other with these words.

Isaiah Acts Out the Defeat of Egypt and Ethiopia

Isaiah 20 King Sargon of Assyria gave orders for his army commander to capture the city of Ashdod. ²About this same time the LORD had told me, "Isaiah, take off everything, including your sandals!" I did this and went around naked and barefoot ³for three years.
Then the LORD said:

What Isaiah has done is a warning to Egypt and Ethiopia. ⁴Everyone in these two countries will be led away naked and barefoot by the king of Assyria. Young or old, they will be taken prisoner, and Egypt will be disgraced. ⁵They will be confused and frustrated, because they depended on Ethiopia and bragged about Egypt. ⁶When this happens, the people who live along the coast will say, "Look what happened to them! We ran to them for safety, hoping they would protect us from the king of Assyria. But now, there is no escape for us."

The Fall of Babylonia

Isaiah 21 This is a message about a desert beside the sea:
Enemies from a hostile nation attack
like a whirlwind from the Southern Desert.
²What a horrible vision was shown to me--
a vision of betrayal and destruction.
Tell Elam and Media to surround
and attack the Babylonians.
The LORD has sworn to end the suffering they caused.

³I'm in terrible pain like a woman giving birth.
I'm shocked and hurt so much that I can't hear or see.
⁴My head spins; I'm horrified!
Early evening, my favorite time, has become a nightmare.

⁵In Babylon the high officials were having a feast.
They were eating and drinking, when someone shouted,
"Officers, take your places! Grab your shields."

⁶The LORD said to me, "Send guards
to find out what's going on.
⁷When they see cavalry troops
and columns of soldiers on donkeys and camels,
tell them to be ready!"

⁸Then a guard said, "I have stood day and night
on this watchtower, Lord.
⁹Now I see column after column of cavalry troops."

Right away someone shouted, "Babylon has fallen!
Every idol in the city lies broken on the ground."
¹⁰Then I said, "My people, you have suffered terribly,
but I have a message for you
from the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel."

How Much Longer?

¹¹This is a message about Dumah:
From the country of Seir, someone shouts to me,
"Guard, how much longer before daylight?"

¹²From my guard post, I answered,
"Morning will soon be here, but night will return.
If you want to know more, come back later."

¹³This is a message for Arabs who live in the barren desert
in the region of Dedan:
You must order your caravans
¹⁴to bring water for those who are thirsty.
You people of Tema must bring food
for the hungry refugees.
¹⁵They are worn out and weary
from being chased by enemies with swords and arrows.
¹⁶The Lord said to me:

A year from now the glory of the people of Kedar will all come to an end, just as a worker's contract ends after a year. ¹⁷Only a few of their warriors will be left with bows and arrows. This is a promise that I, the LORD God of Israel, have made.

Trouble in Vision Valley

Isaiah 22 This is a message about Vision Valley:
Why are you celebrating on the flat roofs of your houses?
²Your city is filled with noisy shouts.
Those who lie drunk in your streets
were not killed in battle.
³Your leaders ran away, but they were captured
without a fight.
No matter how far they ran, they were found and caught.

⁴Then I said, "Leave me alone! Let me cry bitter tears.
My people have been destroyed,
so don't try to comfort me."

⁵The LORD All-Powerful had chosen a time
for noisy shouts and confusion to fill Vision Valley,
and for everyone to beg the mountains for help.
⁶The people of Elam and Kir attacked with chariots
and carried shields.
⁷Your most beautiful valleys were covered with chariots;
your cities were surrounded by cavalry troops.
⁸Judah was left defenseless.
At that time you trusted in the weapons you had stored in Forest Palace. ⁹You saw the holes in the outer wall of Jerusalem, and you brought water from the lower pool. ¹⁰You counted the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some of them, so you could get stones to repair the city wall. ¹¹Then you built a large tank between the walls to store the water. But you refused to trust the God who planned this long ago and made it happen.

A Time To Weep

¹²When all of this happened, the LORD All-Powerful
told you to weep and mourn,
to shave your heads, and wear sackcloth.
¹³But instead, you celebrated by feasting on beef and lamb
and by drinking wine, because you said,
"Let's eat and drink! Tomorrow we may die."

¹⁴The LORD All-Powerful has spoken to me
this solemn promise:
"I won't forgive them for this, not as long as they live."

Selfish Officials Are Doomed

¹⁵The LORD All-Powerful is sending you with this message for Shebna, the prime minister:

¹⁶Shebna, what gives you the right to have a tomb carved out of rock in this burial place of royalty? None of your relatives are buried here. ¹⁷You may be powerful, but the LORD is about to snatch you up and throw you away. ¹⁸He will roll you into a ball and throw you into a wide open country, where you will die and your chariots will be destroyed. You're a disgrace to those you serve.

¹⁹The LORD is going to take away your job! ^20-21He will give your official robes and your authority to his servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

Eliakim will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and to the royal family of Judah. ²²The LORD will put him in charge of the key that belongs to King David's family. No one will be able to unlock what he locks, and no one will be able to lock what he unlocks. ²³The LORD will make him as firm in his position as a tent peg hammered in the ground, and Eliakim will bring honor to his family.

²⁴His children and relatives will be supported by him, like pans hanging from a peg on the wall. ²⁵That peg is fastened firmly now, but someday it will be shaken loose and fall down. Then everything that was hanging on it will be destroyed. This is what the LORD All-Powerful has promised.

Psalm 115
The LORD Deserves To Be Praised

¹We don't deserve praise!
The LORD alone deserves all of the praise,
because of his love and faithfulness.
²Why should the nations ask, "Where is your God?"

³Our God is in the heavens, doing as he chooses.
⁴The idols of the nations are made of silver and gold.
⁵They have a mouth and eyes,
but they can't speak or see.
⁶Their ears can't hear, and their noses can't smell.
⁷Their hands have no feeling, their legs don't move,
and they can't make a sound.
⁸Everyone who made the idols and all who trust them
are just as helpless as those useless gods.

⁹People of Israel, you must trust the LORD
to help and protect you.
¹⁰Family of Aaron the priest, you must trust the LORD
to help and protect you.
¹¹All of you worship the LORD, so you must trust him
to help and protect you.

¹²The LORD will not forget to give us his blessing;
he will bless all of Israel and the family of Aaron.
¹³All who worship the LORD, no matter who they are,
will receive his blessing.

¹⁴I pray that the LORD will let your family
and your descendants always grow strong.
¹⁵May the LORD who created the heavens and the earth
give you his blessing.

¹⁶The LORD has kept the heavens for himself,
but he has given the earth to us humans.
¹⁷The dead are silent and cannot praise the LORD,
¹⁸but we will praise him now and forevermore.
Shout praises to the LORD!